Tihar and the Rasks

Fall Festivities

Having been here for almost two months, I have seen many things! The end of October brought Tihar, the festival of lights to the goddess Laxmi. The Hindus fill their houses with lit candles- I remember this from when I was little. Since then, people have used electric lights instead of candles, but what happens when the power goes out? I found this quite interesting and a little amusing, when the celebration of lights are extinguished by a power outage. Seeing all the houses decorated with lights reminded me of Christmas, and some houses keep their lights up until Christmas.

One evening, I was invited to attend our former landlord’s puja Tihar ceremony. Insisting that I only wanted to observe their ceremony. All the family had come together to celebrate- and their were lights, candles, fruit, drinks, and dye and flowers to decorate the heads of all those who participated. I found their family time very unique and special. The only sad thing was that they were worshiping themselves- instead of the true Father of Lights.

Tihar Electric Lights, Candle, and Oil Lamp

Tihar Festival Puja

Fruit, Candles, Dye

Everyday I get to see two little girls Ellie and Hope.

Ellie is three (almost four) and LOVES the color purple. She also loves to draw and we’ve spent hours drawing all the Disney princesses and many characters from Mary Poppins. She also loves to put on temporary tattoos, and wear pig tails with green and purple hair ties and clips. Ellie’s favorite food for lunch is Bhat (rice) and Dahi (yogurt). 

Ellie

Hope is almost one. She is walking, and can somewhat talk. Everyday she loves to wear her shoes and walk around the house. Somedays she finds didi’s shoes and tries to walk in them but only succeeds in falling. Bumping her head is a daily affair. Hope is following in her sister’s footsteps and ‘pretends’ to draw pictures, with colored pencils (that are dull or broken) and books. Hopefully (someday soon) she will learn that there is paper that you can draw on and paper that you cannot- like books. Hope loves to eat practically anything- and whenever she sees food- she wants to share. 

Hope and her baby doll.